Abstract The Eastern Mediterranean region is characterized by one of the largest concentrations of ophiolites anywhere in the world. Many of these ophiolites are fragmentary or highly deformed, such that their initial mode of tectonic emplacement cannot easily be inferred from the local held relations. The emplacement of many of these ophiolites can usefully be compared with the intact Oman ophiolite, one of the largest and best-studied ophiolites in the world. The Oman ophiolite is commonly believed to have been created in Late Cretaceous time ( c . 95 Ma) above an oceanward-dipping, intra-oceanic subduction zone. This was followed by collision of the subduction zone with the downflexed Arabian passive margin, facilitating the emplacement of the ophiolite onto the continental margin. A less likely alternative is that the Oman ophiolite formed at a mid-ocean ridge that then collapsed, initiating the emplacement of the ophiolite. An Oman-type model is applicable to many of the Mid-Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous ophiolites of the Eastern Mediterranean region that were thrust over former passive continental margins. These ophiolites are again mainly of suprasubductionzone type. Such ophiolites include many of the Jurassic ophiolites of Greece, Albania and former Yugoslavia, and also the Late Cretaceous ophiolites of Turkey and northern Syria. These ophiolites were emplaced from both more northerly and southerly Neotethyan ocean basins. In contrast, the opposing (northerly) margins of these oceanic basins experienced a history of subduction-accretion, marginal arc volcanism and back-arc basin formation (‘Cordilleran-type’ ophiolites). Ophiolites that were emplaced associated with active margin settings range from large accreted thrust sheets to small slices within accretionary prisms and back-arc basins. Examples include the Late Cretaceous ophiolites that are related both to the northern margin of the southern Neotethys and to the northern margin of the northern Neotethys in Turkey. Not all ophiolites were emplaced in response to large-scale horizontal tectonic transport (e.g. Jurassic Guevgueli ophiolite, northern Greece), and several ophiolites experienced dominantly strike-slip or transpression (e.g. the Late Cretaceous Antalya ophiolites, SW Turkey). In general, the mode of ophiolite emplacement, especially the direction of emplacement relative to the orientation of the adjacent continental margin was influenced by the regional palaeogeographical setting.

Abstract This paper focuses on the Mesozoic-Tertiary tectonic evolution of southern Turkey and offshore areas of the easternmost Mediterranean. The area is discussed and interpreted utilizing three segments from west to east. In the far west, the Lycian Nappes represent emplaced remnants of mainly Mesozoic rift, passive margin and oceanic units that formed within a northerly strand of the Mesozoic (i.e. Neotethyan) ocean. Further east, the Hoyran-Beyşehir-Hadim Nappes, likewise encompass sedimentary and igneous units that formed within a northerly Neotethyan oceanic basin, although lithologies, structure and timing of emplacement differ from the Lycian Nappes. Further east (Adana region), ophiolites and ophiolitic mélange also formed in a northerly oceanic basin and were thrust southwards over the regionally extensive Tauride carbonate platform initially in latest Cretaceous time (e.g. Pozanti-Karsanti Ophiolite). By contrast, further south the regionally important Antalya Complex records northerly areas of a separate, contrasting southerly Neotethyan oceanic basin. This comprised a mosaic of carbonate platforms and interconnecting seaways, similar to the Caribbean region today. In particular, an ocean strand separated Tauride carbonate platforms to the west (Bey Dağlari) and east (e.g. Akseki Platform) within the Isparta Angle area. In the centre of southern coastal Turkey, the metamorphic Alanya Massif is interpreted as a Triassic rift basin bordered by two small platform units that was located along the northern margin of the southerly Neotethys which collapsed in latest Cretaceous and was finally emplaced in Early Tertiary time. Remnants of the southerly Neotethyan oceanic basin remain today in the non-emplaced continental margin of the Levant and North Africa, and neighbouring seafloor areas (e.g. Levant and Herodotus Basins). In southern Turkey, emplaced Neotethyan units are unconformably overlain by a complex of mainly Miocene basins. These largely reflect the effects of southward directed crustal loading as convergence of Africa and Eurasia continued, although the basins were also influenced by an inferred more southerly subduction zone (near Cyprus). Further east, in southeastern Turkey, ophiolites, ophiolitic mélange and continental margin units were emplaced southwards onto the Arabian Margin, a promontory of North Africa in latest Cretaceous time. The south Neotethyan basin’s north margin experienced northward subduction, accretion, arc volcanism and ophiolite emplacement in Late Cretaceous time. The intervening southerly Neotethyan oceanic basin remained partly open in the Early Tertiary, finally closing by diachronous collision in Eocene-Oligocene time, followed by further convergence and overthrusting in the Miocene. The Eocene later stages of convergence were marked by renewed arc volcanism and extensive subduction accretion (e.g. Maden Complex). In the west, subduction remained active in Late Oligocene-Early Miocene time giving rise to sedimentary mélanges (olistostromes) of the Misis-Andirin Mountains (Adana region) as an accretionary wedge. By the Miocene the subduction zone accommodating Africa-Eurasia convergence had been relocated to its present position south of Cyprus. Areas behind this subduction experienced crustal extension (e.g. Antalya and Adana-Cilicia Basins) from the Late Miocene onwards. After onset of westward ‘tectonic escape’ of the Turkish Plate in the Early Pliocene, southeastern Turkey was transected by the South Anatolian Transform Fault. Strike-slip was dissipated though the Kyrenia-Misis Lineament into Cyprus. Today, southeastern Turkey records a post-collisional setting, whereas areas to the west experience incipient collision of the African and Turkish Plates.

Abstract A combination of geophysical studies and deep-sea drilling have in the past suggested that orthogonally rifted margins fall into two end-members: volcanic-rifted margins (e.g. eastern Greenland) and non-volcanic rifted margins (e.g. Iberia–Newfoundland conjugate). This paper explores the rifted margins of the Eastern Tethys stretching from the Eastern Mediterranean, through Oman to the Himalayas. Rifting in these area was typically pulsed, extending over more than 50 Ma. The timing of final continental breakup ranged from Late Permian in the east, in Oman and the Himalayas, to latest Triassic–earliest Jurassic in many parts of the Eastern Mediterranean (e.g. Antalya in SW Turkey; Pindos in Greece). Rifting in the Himalayas and Oman gave rise to a proximal to a distal ramp geometry with scatted seamounts (continental fragments and atolls) located adjacent to the rifted margin. The Eastern Mediterranean was palaeogeographically varied, and was characterized by a number of mainly elongate continental fragments (tens to several hundreds of kilometres long by tens of kilometres wide). These microcontinents subdivided the Eastern Tethys in the Eastern Mediterranean region into several small ocean basins, which rifted at more or less the same time in latest Triassic–earliest Jurassic time. All of the rifted margins of the Eastern Tethys are associated with rift-related volcanic rocks. However, with the exception of the Permian Panjal Traps in the Himalayas, the volumes of magma and corresponding thermal doming were less than for the ideal Volcanic-rifted margin (i.e. eastern Greenland). None of the Eastern Tethyan rifted margins show evidence of features characteristic of Non-volcanic rifted margins (e.g. sea-floor serpentinite exhumation), in contrast to the Iberia–Newfoundland conjugate or the Alps. Most of the Eastern Tethyan rifted margins appear to correspond to an ‘intermediate’ type, characterized by pulsed rifting, limited rift volcanism and a narrow continent–ocean transition zone. Such ‘intermediate-type’ rifted margins may remain to be explored in the modern oceans by deep-sea drilling. There is little evidence to support previous suggestions that the Eastern Tethyan rifts can be considered as back-arc basins above either northward- or southward-dipping subduction zones. Here it is suggested that the Eastern Tethys documents a fundamentally different type of rifting from either the ‘Volcanic-related’ or ‘Non-volcanic’ intracontinental rifts known from the Alps or the North Atlantic region. The dominant controls of rifting are seen as the traction of rising asthenosphere on the base of the lithosphere, related deviatoric tensional stresses, inherited and thermally induced weaknesses in the crust, and slab-pull. Specifically, in the Eastern Tethyan region continental breakup was probably triggered by a combination of long-term asthenosphere flow, slab-pull related to subduction beneath Eurasia and melt-induced crustal weakening associated with pulsed rifting or plume effects. Final continental breakup corresponds to a major (‘Cimmerian’) convergent phase along the opposing Eurasia margin, which further supports the role of plate boundary forces in Eastern Tethyan rifting. The early Mesozoic oceanic basins opened, probably associated with northwestward propagation of a spreading centre through the already weakened periphery of Gondwana, adjacent to less deformable Palaeotethyan oceanic crust. After a lengthy period of passive margin subsidence, locally punctuated by crustal extension and related volcanism, or plume effects, the rifted margins were finally tectonically emplaced during mid-Mesozoic, late Mesozoic or early Cenozoic time in different areas.

Abstract Reconstructions of the Anatolian continent and adjacent areas assume the existence of one or more continental fragments during Mesozoic–Early Cenozoic time. These rifted from North Africa (Gondwana) during the Triassic, drifted across the Mesozoic Tethys and collided with Eurasia during latest Cretaceous–Paleocene time. Current reconstructions range from a regional-scale Tauride–Anatolide continent with oceanic basins to the north and south, to numerous rifted continental fragments separated by small oceanic basins. Field-based evidence for the inter-relations of the continental blocks and associated carbonate platforms is discussed and evaluated here, especially to distinguish between sutured oceans and intra-continental convergence zones. Several crustal units are restored as different parts of one large Tauride–Anatolide continent, whereas several smaller crustal units (e.g. Kırşehir massif; Bitlis/Pütürge and Alanya/Kyrenia units) are interpreted as continental fragments bordered by oceanic crust. We infer a relatively wide İzmir–Ankara–Erzincan ocean in the north and also a wide South Neotethyan ocean in the south. Several smaller oceanic strands (e.g. Inner Tauride ocean, Berit ocean and Alanya ocean) were separated by continental fragments. Our proposed reconstructions are shown on palaeotectonic maps for Late Permian to Mid-Miocene. The reconstructions have interesting implications for crustal processes, including ophiolite genesis and emplacement.